~ Notes & recipes from an edible garden

Shades of Orange

The flowers in the garden are starting to take on a more autumnal look, with oranges and yellows appearing all over the place. I’d like to say that this was planned, and perfectly timed so that as August comes to an end the planting in my garden reflects the changing season. But no, being honest, it’s largely down to chance.

This dahlia, I think it’s a variety called ‘Mrs Eileen’, has been in the ground for some years now. It’s a left-over from the days when I grew and sold cut flowers, and is bold, showy and obviously a survivor having got through some really cold winters. It was great for using in autumn bouquets, but not so good for wildlife – the double flowers mean there’s little, if any, nectar to be had. But after it’s come up year after year with minimum input, I haven’t the heart to dig it up so, for now, it can stay.

The calendula are much more wildlife-friendly than the dahlia, attracting lots of hoverflies. Bright, cheerful, long-flowering and edible – they definitely earn their place in the garden.

The sunflowers haven’t done so well as usual this year. A lot of the plants were eaten by slugs before they even got a chance to establish, and the wind and rain have battered those that survived. But the plants that did manage to grow and flower are looking beautiful. A few are already producing seeds – food for the birds, with maybe enough left over to grow next year.

Like the dahlia, the rudbeckias were originally grown to use as cut flowers. I love the range of colours, from yellow through to rusty orange. The red admirals seem to like them too, and on sunny days spend ages sitting on the flowers, looking attractive.

More muted than the rest, but still one of my favourites, is the rusty foxglove (Digitalis ferruginea). The plants produce tall spires of beautifully marked flowers, which act like magnets for bumblebees.

Do you have favourite flowers for this time of the year? Or any suggestions of plants I could grow for a more deliberately designed autumn look?

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12 thoughts on “Shades of Orange”

Lovely photos! If it weren’t for slugs and snails I would have more dahlias in late summer/autumn. And I love grasses with coloured leaves or seedheads, and asters in shades of purple and pink, which also remind me of autumn.

I love grasses too! But so do the cats – for some reason they like to sleep on clumps of ornamental grasses and I end up with flattened leaves and horizontally growing seedheads, which isn’t the look I’m aiming for!

The colour orange seems to be dominating my garden too but the bees seem to love it so I don’t mind so much. The weather has been awful this year – my large sunflowers are tatty and battered but the miniature ones are great!
I have planted a thornless blackberry that has lovely autumn colour and love viburnums and sedums too. That Dahlia is definitely a keeper!!

I too lost my sunflowers to slugs. Very good value at this time of year are Japanese anemones and there are some white ones that would be good with orange plants. I have also grown into liking michaelmas daisies and there are many varieties to choose from.

That dahlia certainly deserves to be kept if it has been brave enough to withstand a couple of hard winters – mine all rotted. Crocosmias are great at this time of year putting a real show of colour. I lost most of my sunflowers, those that survived were flattened in a storm we had last week – such a shame – will have to make sure of better staking next year.

Sorry to hear about your sunflowers Elaine – gardening seems to have been a constant struggle with the weather this year. The dahlia will be left where it is, I might even get a few more to keep it company!

Stunning photos! I’ve just been sowing sunflowers – I grew a few last year and enjoyed them so much I’ve got a few different varieties for this year. As for a more deliberately designed autumn look I’m afraid I can’t help you unless you want to achieve that; post summer, mostly dead and collapsing tomatoes, browning beans and pumpkins with powdery mildew effect in which case I am an expert…

Thanks for the offer of design help Liz! In fact, I’ve pretty much mastered the gently decaying, uncared for look in my garden. New for 2012 – I think there will be an added touch of soggy, just beginning to rot blackness to contrast with the autumnal oranges and browns…